


Talking about Nails and Boys

by Sparky_Young_Upstart



Category: FBE, FBE - React, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Cuddling, First Kiss, Fluff, Instagram Stories, M/M, Nail Polish, RPF, everyone can see it, first kiss with a boy, vlogging - Freeform, written with no actual knowledge of how painting nails works, you'd think listening to angsty music while writing this wouldn't help but you're WRONG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-31 05:58:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13968837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparky_Young_Upstart/pseuds/Sparky_Young_Upstart
Summary: Brooklin comes over to paint Eric's nails, and the discussion turns to his office crush.





	1. Metallic Blue

**Author's Note:**

> hhrrnng okay let's try this. I had one FBE story up for like...twelve hours and took it down later because I didn't like it. This one is much more simple and I think it's much better. Also, once again, I've never done RPF before so I don't know how this is gonna turn out! And of course since it's real people this will be changed or removed if the persons appearing here don't approve of it.

Eric scampered to the door when he heard the bell ring, and opened it to find a smiling Brooklin. “Hey!” she cried as she held up her little makeup bag. “Ready to get your nail on?”

“Am I ever!” Eric replied as he stepped aside to let her in. “Can I get you something to drink? We’ve got Sprite, and...” Eric paused. “Actually, I think we only have Sprite.”

“Nah, I’m good for now. You’re room again?”

“Sure.”

A few moments late they were set up in Eric’s room, with Eric sitting cross-legged on his bed while Brooklin took the desk chair, rolling it over to sit across from him. “So, the silver’s gone.”

Eric nodded. “Yep. I liked it more than the black, but I still want to mix things up a little.” He reached over to his night stand and grabbed a little metallic-blue bottle. “I found this the other day and thought it would look pretty nice.”

Brooklin gave him a look of approval. “I dig it.” She gave the bottle a little shake, then took off the top, dipped the brush in, and began applying it to Eric’s nails. As she went, they talked about all the stuff happening in their lives. Movies, TV, music, and of course FBE. They shared ideas they had for future vlogs and instagram sketches. It was funny - they hadn’t really realized how creative they could be until they were given such a big opportunity as this, and now that they had it it felt like they were overflowing.

“By the way, your Patreon story was adorable,” Brooklin commented.

“Thanks!” Eric beamed. “It took me a while to figure out how to do the special effects, but it really paid off.” He chuckled. “Still waiting for you to get going on YouTube.”

Brooklin gave a mock gasp. “Hey, I’m getting there. Once I get all my shit in order, all y’all are gonna be in trouble.” She moved on to another finger. “Besides, I’m still waiting for your next Talking on the Roof.”

“Doo doo doo doo!” Eric replied reflexively, causing them both to giggle like little kids.

Eventually the conversation turned towards romance. “I don’t know what I’m looking for,” Brooklin said with a sigh. “I mean, okay, my ideal relationship is obviously a throuple between me, Michael B. Jordan, and Tessa Thompson, but I need to stick with attainable goals.”

Eric shrugged. “Hey, anything is possible if you set your mind to it.”

“Oh trust me, I involve it in my daily affirmations.” She paused to let the first coat dry. “How about you? Any luck on the Teric front?”

Eric chuckled, but when he met her gaze he realized she was serious. “Oh! Um...I mean, that whole thing is mostly just a joke thing.”

Brooklin nodded. “Sure it is.”

After a moment of silence, Brooklin resumed painting as all the gears spun out of control in Eric’s head. “See the thing is...um.” He sighed. “We do it as a joke, and I am content with it being a joke for all of eternity because it’s not hurting anyone and we’re just friends. But at the same time -”

“You wish it could be something more.” Brooklin grinned. “Hey, no judgement. But we all see the way you look at him.”

Eric made a noise in affirmation. “Yeah. And I don’t know if I want to publicly come out as...bi or pan or whatever label I figure out. Plus even if I did it’s no guarantee that Tom would reciprocate anything. It’s like you said, attainable goals.”

Brooklin scoffed. “Okay, there’s a big difference between my dream scenario and yours. Tom isn’t famous.”

“I mean...he’s a little famous. He was in _Criminal Minds_.”

“For like two seconds.” Brooklin grabbed the top coat and began applying that. “Listen, let me tell you about a little lesson I learned from _Love, Simon_.”

Eric frowned. “We weren’t at that shoot.”

“Shush. Anyway, the point is that whether Tom is interested in you or not, you bottling this stuff up inside is not healthy in the long run. Plus either way Tom’s still gonna be your best friend. He cries at everything.”

Eric smiled wide. “That’s true. He has a lot of emotions. You show him a cute puppy and he’ll start tearing up.”

Brooklin nodded. “Precisely. And now you are the cutest thing in the office!” she declared as she finished off his nails. Eric held them up and smiled. Yeah, he was pretty cute. But of course there was another cute boy at the office too.


	2. Looking Good

“Carson! Carson!” Eric called out as he dashed down the halls of the office, official FBE Instagram phone in his hands. The other boy turned when he heard his name called, and Eric nearly bowled him over he was coming towards him so fast.

“Whoa!” he cried out as the two tried to avoid stumbling into each other.

“Sorry!” Eric said with a chuckle. “Carson I’m doing and Instagram and the fans wanna know who your favourite Power Ranger is!”

Carson put his hand to his chin to think about it. “Hmm, I’m gonna say it was...Billy the Blue Ranger.”

“Wasn’t he a big nerd?” Eric asked half-jokingly.

“Yeah but he was still cool!” Carson said defensively. “And hey, he matches your new nails.”

Eric flashed his hand in front of the camera in the seconds before the story ended. “Oh hey, he does!” The red and purple circle ring completed itself and the camera stopped recording just in time. “Thanks for that, Carson,” he said in his more casual voice. “Now I just gotta add all the captions and...we are good to go!”

“No problem. Didn’t you used to be silver?” the younger boy asked.

Eric nodded. “Yeah, but I changed it up yesterday. It’s going really well so far, everyone’s complimenting me.”

“Nice! I have to get to a shoot, but I’ll see you around after.” Carson smiled as he continued down the hall. Eric waved after him, then turned around to find other people to record for Instagram. With his head in his phone he almost didn’t notice someone else approaching from the other side of the hall.

“Eric!” Tom cried out, and Eric was so spooked that surely he jumped two feet in the air. Tom let out a hearty laugh from behind his camera.

“Agh! Tom! What are you doing?!”

“I’m doing the vlog! What are you doing?”

“I’m doing Instagram.” Then Eric raised his hand up. “And I’m showing off my new nails!”

Tom reached out his hand and pulled Eric’s towards him. He did it so casually, while Eric suddenly felt a little jolt of excitement at the act. “Looking good!” Tom declared. Then he let go and quickly turned the camera off. “I’m just getting some B-roll stuff. I actually saw those in your post yesterday, but they really do look good.”

Eric hoped he wasn’t blushing as he spoke. “Thanks man.” He really had been getting plenty of compliments on them, but coming from Tom they meant something else of course. Eric reluctantly pulled his hand away and brushed back a lock of his hair, trying to look causal. “Brooklin helped me, but I...should...probably try and start doing them myself.” He shrugged. “I did it on my own when I first started but they ended up all chipped.”

Tom nodded. “Cool. Maybe you just need somebody to practice on?”

Eric nodded. “Yeah, that would work. Not sure who would want to volunteer at this point, though.”

Tom shrugged awkwardly. “Well...I was...okay, this is kinda weird, but after seeing you get so excited about your nails I...kinda wanted to try it too.” Tom lowered his guys bashfully, but Eric’s eyes suddenly widened. _Was this for real?_

“Oh really?” Eric asked.

Tom nodded. “Yeah, I know, I’m kind of copying you, but I wanted to try something new.” He passed the camera back and forth between his hands, trying to keep them busy. “I actually asked Brooklin if she was interested, but she said she was busy for most of the week.” He grinned. “So I figured you might want to practice on me?”

Inside, Eric was doing little backflips. Not because of the nail painting thing - obviously dudes painting their nails wasn’t indicative of their sexuality, Eric hadn’t started doing it because he was into guys, he just wanted to try it out. No, the real reason was that he knew Brooklin wasn’t busy this week. It was one of the things they’d talked about the day before. Which meant that she was absolutely playing wingman to him right now.

“Dude, that sounds like a great idea!” Eric said with glee. The two of them high-fived and figured out a time for Tom to come over, and then they went on their way. Eric’s heart didn’t stop - he kept thinking about the upcoming - well, not a _date_ , but you know. Eric and Tom had spent plenty of time alone together before, but this was going to be a lot more intimate. Eric’s hands all over Tom’s, the two sitting in close proximity...he shook his head. _Keep it together, Eric. It could be nothing_.

But it could also be something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if Eric did his nails the first time, or if he's done them regularly since, all I know is that his friend did them for him a few times and potentially that's still the case.


	3. Emerald Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all are ready for a chapter longer than the last two combined because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO STOP.

Eric was antsy. He was pacing back in forth in the living room, swinging his arms back and forth, anxiously bouncing from heel to heel. He would start practicing something he wanted to say, then stop because he knew that rehearsing would make him seem even more awkward. He stopped and took a breath. This was just two friends, like usual. Doing Tom’s nails wasn’t going to change anything between them.

So why was he getting so worked up about everything?

Maybe he hyped the situation beyond what it could be. Maybe Brooklin got in his head. Maybe he was just being silly and finally letting his fantasies run wild. He breathed in and held it for a few seconds before exhaling slowly. “It’s fine,” Eric stated. “It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.” If he said it enough times it would become true.

He almost jumped out of his skin when there was knocking at the door. He dashed over, took a moment to compose himself, then opened it. “Hey dude!” he said with glee.

“Hey, buddy!” Tom answered as he stepped in and slid his shoes off. “You all ready for me?”

_Always. Never._ “Yep! I mean, there’s not a lot to get ready, really...” Eric giggled, motioning for Tom to follow him to his room. “Have you thought of a colour?”

Tom blushed. “Funny story, actually. I was just gonna go with black, you know, live the scene phase I never had.” He shrugged off his hoodie and hung it on Eric’s door. “But when I mentioned it to some of the girls on the team they got, like, weirdly excited?” Then he dug into his pocket and pulled out a little glass vial. “Julie foisted this on me and told me it was ‘a perfect color’.”

Eric took the bottle to examine it. It was a bright shade of emerald green polish. He couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean, I’m sure it’d look good on you, but I don’t want to put anything on that you don’t want.”

Tom shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I mean, okay, I’d be lying if I didn’t initially think that that was too girl a colour, but then I was like ‘nah dude, you’re painting your nails, you might as well go all in’.” He grinned. “So, like, let’s do this!”

“Alright!” Eric cried in agreement.

Tom sat on the edge of Eric’s bed and Eric carefully began. It was a bold shade and really stood out even with just one coat on. Eric chuckled. “I think I know why Julie wanted you to wear this shade.”

“Why’s that?”

“Your black shirt with all the plants on it. It matches it.”

Tom grinned. “You pay attention to my clothes, eh?”

Eric blushed. “Not all the time...hey, Vartuhi can’t be the only fashionable person in the office, right?” They both laughed at that.

“I thought it would tickle more,” Tom commented after a few minutes.

“Oh, I can make it tickle more if you want,” Eric replied cheekily. “You’ll just end up with more than your nails painted.”

Tom made a look of mock fear. “Oh, you wouldn’t dare.”

Eric raised an eyebrow. “Or would I?” He wiggled the brush threateningly at Tom’s face, and the older boy would have jerked back if not for Eric holding on to his other hand. Eric giggled. “Don’t worry, I’m just kidding.” Still, the sensation of clutching Tom’s hand made him breath faster, and when he started on the next nail his hand was shaking a little. Tom noticed.

“You okay Eric?” he asked. “Are you nervous?”

Eric shook his head. “No, I uh...actually, not really.” Then he grinned. “I didn’t want to wreck your nails or make it look bad, but you being so confident makes me more confident.”

“Come on man, you’re the confident one,” Tom grinned. “You never let anyone define who you are or what you do.”

“Well you neither! You let everyone see your emotions.” Eric smirked. “You’re a big softy!”

Tom scoffed, but he had to admit that it was true. Eric continued. “So, I guess...I don’t know, maybe I’m just excited.”

Tom kept on smiling. “Excited to be doing my nails?” he asked with some confusion.

Eric grimaced. He didn’t realize he’d let that slip out. But at the same time, he had kind of meant to say something while Tom was here. Might as well keep going. “More like excited about being so close to you...” He took another breath and let go of Tom’s hands. “I know, I know, we spend loads of time together, but this is kind of different. Plus lately I’ve been thinking a lot about...us...and...what I’d like us to be...” He sat back in his chair. “Am I making sense?”

Tom hadn’t broken eye contact with him, but his smile had faltered. “I think so. But spell it out for me so that I don’t screw up.”

Eric nodded. “Okay. I...have...a crush on you.” The way it came out it sounded more like a statement of fact than a confession days in the making. “I get if you don’t feel the same way,but we’re too close for me to not tell you about it.”

Tom bit his lip, thinking on what he’d just been told. “That’s intense,” he breathed. He started to lift a hand to run through his hair as a nervous tic, but Eric made a noise of distress and Tom remembered that he still had wet polish on there. “Right, sorry.” Then, even though the moment had suddenly gone serious, he couldn’t help but let a little laugh escape his lips.

“You make me smile, dude,” Tom started. “That’s why we’re friend in the first place. You’re funny and you’re charming and you always make my day better.” He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, trying to get his thoughts in order. “And it’s not something I think about a _lot_ , but like...we joke about stuff, and it comes up in the comments a lot, and sometimes I wonder what I really feel about you.” He sighed and shrugged. “But I have no idea what it is, if I’m being honest.”

Eric pursed his lips. “Okay. Well, that’s something, at least.” He anxiously drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. Then a thought came to him. He leaned forward again. “I don’t want to be too forward, but there is one way we could test things out.”

Tom had a brief look of wonder, then realized what Eric was implying. “Huh. I guess you’re right. But won’t that make things a little weird?”

“It doesn’t have to,” Eric answered. “I promise that if there’s no spark or anything then we’ll drop it, and I’ll finish your nails platonically.”

Tom smiled softly. “Okay. Let’s try this out.” He leaned forward too, and for a moment it was just the two of them staring at each other and slowly drifting closer. “Who should, um, who should initiate it?”

“I don’t know,” Eric confessed, his mouth suddenly dry. He swallowed. “Maybe we just keep going until, uh, contact?”

“Okay,” Tom breathed.

They kept coming closer, and it seemed like it was taking forever. Probably because it was. Two young fools, both with really confused feelings for each other, trying to kiss but too nervous thinking about what might happen if somehow there was nothing. Eric was worried that Tom was just playing along. Tom was worried that he’d hurt Eric if he didn’t feel anything. Not to mention, they were a foot away when this started, so creeping forward millimetres at a time was not helping the situation.

But finally, _finally_ , they were close enough that they could feel each other’s breath on each other’s lips. Eric’s heart was racing a mile a minute. Tom kept glancing between Eric’s eyes and his mouth, not sure which one he was supposed to look at. His lips brushed against Eric’s earlier than he expected, and he shuddered. It was now or never. Tom closed the distance between them, pressing his lips into Eric’s and breathing in. It wasn’t their first kiss, they’d done that before, but it was their first kiss with another dude - and more importantly, their first kiss with _each other_. It started slow at first, both of them finding a rhythm with each other’s lips, but then they became more excited and things grew more heated. Tom felt Eric’s tongue press against his lips and he opened his mouth to let it in. He surprised himself when he let out a little moan of delight. Eric allowed himself to move even closer and hold Tom’s face in his hands, and Tom wished so badly to do the same but couldn’t because _ugh, nails!_

After a few minutes they both had to come up for air, breathing heavily and letting their foreheads rest against each other.

“I think...I know the answer...” started Eric. “Did you...feel anything?”

“Yeah,” Tom panted, “yeah...I did...”

The two beamed at each other. Eric reached over and wiped something off Tom’s cheek, and he realized that he had started crying.”

“Softy,” Eric cooed.

“Shut up!” Tom laughed as he leaned back, awkwardly wiping at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I have a lot of emotions, okay?!” He held his hands out. “Please, you gotta finish these so I can hold you properly.”

Eric grabbed the polish again. “That is an excellent motivator, my dude.” He resumed his work, and went as fast as he could while still doing a good job. Wouldn’t you know it, even with the two of them giving each other doe eyes every five seconds, they managed to finish within the hour and spent the rest of their time lying on Eric’s bed, holding hands, cuddling, and just being together.


End file.
